First, almost a month ago, was the Badger Basketball annual steak-fry. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Coach Gary “The Shot Doctor” Close. No offense, Coach, but the Badgers overall shooting percentage is down since you’ve arrived – especially free throws. None-the-less, you’re a likeable guy in person. And you have a cute kid and a beautiful wife…

The night was emceed by CBS’s Jay Wilson. (20 bonus points for whoever can tell me what Jay’s real last name is.) Player introductions were made – the most notible were the reactions to Tucker and the new Freshman. I get the feeling that people in Madison are real excited to see Landry and Krabbenhoft in action this year.

October 14th was the first ever “Midnight Madness” for Wisconsin Basketball. Bo is now on the board of directors for the coache’s association and spear-headed the effort to get the 12:00am time moved back to 7pm so that families could attend. Although the Badgers drew only 2500 people to the event (compared to Michigan State and Indiana having around 10K+), it was a good time. Tucker and DeAaron Williams tied for the win in the dunk contest… amazing stuff.

One pieve I have… I don’t think there was a reason why Wisconsin shouldn’t have had 5,000 or more people there. The promotion behind the event seemed dismal as the only marketed reason to go was to have fun…. ummm…. people already have fun things to do on Friday night – how about market something that talks to people? Free iPods? (Which they had for a couple people) Slam dunk contest featuring one of the countries best leapers? I mean, there’s got to be something else to push besides the fact that people should just be there.

October 30th was the annual Red & White scrimmage game. Again, only a couple thousand turned out. Hello?! Illinois only opened their scrimmage up to season ticket holders (Wisconsin’s was free to the public) and still they got 10,000 people to come. Something has to change in the mindset of Wisonsin Basketball fans. If the only thing you want to do is come to see Wisconsin play Michigan State and Illinois, that’s a pretty sad commentary.

To me, Freshman Marcus Landry really stood out of the bunch – even beyond Tucker. His athleticism combined with his tenactity make him one the most exciting players to watch. Shortly after entering the game, he alrady had 3 blocked shots and 3 rebounds. I forget exactly how many points he ended up with, but the way this guy gets after the ball is amazing.

November 5th was the first Exhibition game, played against UW-River Falls. River Falls is only picked to finish 8th in their conference this year, but I felt they never let down against UW. It wasn’t a “gut check” as Bruce Webber likes to refer to Illinois’ exhibition games… but it did provide the young guys a chance to bang a little more than they probably to in practice, and everyone the chance to get in better game-shape.

Next stop, a November 14th exhibition game against Lawrence at 7pm. See you there.

(And yes, I actually have gone to each of these events… and should be at every home game this year with the differnet tickets I have access to!)